Dr. Abigail O’Brien’s work fuses fine art practices with traditional forms of object making and employs many media including photography, sculpture, video, sound and hand-made embroidered objects. O’Brien’s work explores themes such as ritual, rites of passage and the domestic realm. These rituals are both an anchor and a noose and are a way of navigating the complexities of life.
She received her MA in Fine Art Painting from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 1998. She was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by the National University of Ireland in 2019.
O’Brien was elected as President of the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in 2018, the first female president of the RHA since its foundation 200 years ago. She is a Member of the Boards of the National Gallery of Ireland and The Highlands Gallery, Drogheda.
Photograph – Paul Sherwood.
